Last night I was recruited as a replacement for one of the judges at the 4-H Fair taking place here in Choteau. Although my only experience with a 4-H fair was when I was a chicken-raiser in elementary school, how could I turn them down in their moment of need?? I agreed, thinking I was judging "Creative Design," and that I'd have an experienced partner. Wrong! Today I spent four hours judging art; drawings, paintings, crafts, and lots of great pottery, and doing it all by myself! (my partner was an unexpected no-show) That means I was the person who interviewed (it is really a wonderful process) 25 young people who had a total of 66 pieces of art, and had to decide (by myself!) who won best in class and various recognitions. That was the hard part, of course. Thankfully, one was a huge stand-out as best in show, but the rest were just gut-instinct on my part. I kept thinking, "What would Caitie say?"
I really want to say only nice things about it, however. There was a room-full of judges donating their time, and a huge number of kids, ages 8 through 18 who walked up to your table, introduced themselves, and stuck out their hand to shake yours. They were polite, articulate, and not a "loser" in the bunch! They tackled multiple projects of every shape, size, and description, and apparently did them all well. The process was incredibly well organized and quite an inspiration to see what the young people of Montana are doing with their time.
No comments:
Post a Comment